INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION SLIDES

FOR INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY

Roots and
Early
History

DEFINE
PSYCHOLOGY

Table of Contents
4

What is Psychology?

Roots of Psychology

Psychology Discipline

Early Schools of Psychology

10-13

New Schools Develop

Fact or Falsehood?
Sigmund Freud established the first psychology
laboratory at the University of Vienna, Austria.

false

The science of psychology developed from the

more established fields of biology and
philosophy.

true

Psychology is best defined today as the study of

mental life.

false

William James is associated with functionalist

psychology.

true

Behaviorism is primarily concerned with teaching

animals how to behave.

false

What is
Psychology?
Scientific
Answering questions
objectively based on
observable facts, data,
and established
methods

Todays definition:
The scientific study of behavior and
mental processes
Behavio
r
Observable actions

Mental
Processes
Thoughts, feelings,
sensations,
perceptions,
motivations, dreams,
subjective
experiences

Roots of Psychology Philosophy

Ancient philosophers asked questions about human existence.

Rene Descartes
Dualism, or the idea
that the mind and
body are separate
entities that interact

Plato
Nativism, or the
idea that certain
kinds of
knowledge are

Aristotle
Philosophical
empiricism, or the
idea that all
knowledge is
acquired through

Roots of
Psychology:
Physiology
The branch of biology that
studies the functions and
parts of living organisms
In the 1600s, physiologists
begin to study the workings
of the brain and its relation to
behavior.
By the 1700s, physiologists
find that specific bodily
functions can be traced to
specific brain areas.
Some early ideas, such as
phrenology, did not stand the
test of time.

Psychology:
A Discipline
Is Founded
Uses scientific

methods to study
psychological
processes
Writes first
psychology textbook
(1874)
Establishes first
psychology research
laboratory at the
University of Leipzig,
Germany (1879)

Wilhelm Wundt
(1832-1920)
Leipzig, Germany

Early Schools of Psychology

The Science of Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt promotes the belief that experimental

methods should be used to study mental processes.

What is the best way to

measure mental processes?
Wilhelm Wundt
(1832-1920)

Structuralism

Edward Titchener, a student of Wundt, held that

complex conscious experiences could be broken
down into elemental parts or structures.

Edward Titchener
(1867-1927)

What are the structures of

conscious experiences?

Early Schools of Psychology

Functionalism

Advocated
Advocated by
by William
William James
James and
and influenced
influenced by
by Darwin,
Darwin, functionalism
functionalism focuses
focuses on
on
how
how behaviors
behaviors function
function to
to allow
allow people
people and
and animals
animals adapt
adapt to
to their
their environment
environment..

What are the functions of behavior and mental

experiences?
How can psychology be applied to life?
As a professor and
philosopher,
William James was
influential in
establishing
psychology in the
United States.
William James
(1842-1910)

Charles Darwin
(1809-1882)

Although Darwin was

a naturalist, his 1859
book On the Origin
of Species
influenced
psychologists to
investigate how
behavior allows
animals to adapt to
their environments.

New Schools
Develop:
Psychoanalysis
The Unconscious
is the part of the mind
that operates outside
of conscious
awareness
Unconscious conflicts
determine behavior
and personality

Psychoanalytic Theory

Unconscious mental processes shape

feelings, thoughts, and behaviors

Sigmund Freud
1856-1939

New Schools
Develop:
Behaviorism
Psychology
redefined as the
scientific study of
observable
behavior

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

discovers conditioned
reflexes.

John Watson
(1878-1958)
Extends approach to
human behavior.

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
Further experiments on
behavior, learning, and
conditioning.

New Schools Develop:

Humanistic Psychology
Positive potential of human beings is assumed
Emphasis on self-determination, free will, and the importance of
choice
A reaction to negative implications of Freudian and emphasis on
external influences of the behaviorist school

Carl Rogers
(1902-1987)

Abraham
Maslow
(19081970)

New Schools Develop

A return to an emphasis
on mental processes
and how they influence
behavior

Brain
activity

Cognitive Psychology

The scientific study of how

perception, thought, memory, and
reasoning are processed

Mental
activity

Photo Credits
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DESCRIPTION
Brain graphic
Tree on hill screened under TOC
Boy writing on a chalkboard
Woman playing with two children
Woman touching her temple
Bust of Plato
Statue of Aristotle (cropped)
Picture of Rene Descartes (cropped)
Phrenology map "A Picture of Good Health"
Picture of Wilhelm Wundt
Picture of Wilhelm Wundt
Picture of Edward Titchener
Picture of William James
Picture of Charles Darwin
Picture of Sigmund Freud (cropped)
Picture of Ivan Pavlov (also in Deck 7 figure
7108_7.1.8a
Picture of John Watson
Picture of BF Skinner
Picture of Carl Rogers
Picture of Abraham Maslow
Picture of four brain scans
Man with glasses touching his chin

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